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Episode 1 (S01E01): Tuesday 1st September 2015
<< Previous Episode | Next Episode >> Episode 1 (S01E01): Tuesday 1st September 2015 *'EPISODE TITLE': Flashbacks *'THESE DAYS WEEK': 001 *'THESE DAYS TITLE CARD': 1.1 *'REAL-TIME PUBLICATION': Sunday 1st February 2015 *'EPISODE THUMBNAIL': Lisa Wright (Anna Acton) and Glen Wright (Samuel Anderson) in their living room *'WRITER & PRODUCER': Noxy *'LICENSEE': Impossible Princess Productions Plot The episode focuses mainly on the backstory of the Wright family - Lisa Wright, her husband Glen Wright, and their two adopted teenage children, Danielle Harvey and Liam Hardacre. The episode infers that Lisa is quite an impulsive character, and whilst her heart is in the right place, she does not always see the bigger picture. This is in contrast to her husband Glen, who is more cautious in his outlook. Danielle is sweet and sensitive, whilst Liam is friendly but passionate, with an occasionally fiery temper not dissimilar to Glen's own. Part of the episode deals with the time Glen and Lisa's baby daughter, Sophie Wright, died at home from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), devastating her parents in a time before Danielle and Liam were on the scene. The loss provoked unpredictable behaviour in Lisa, and at one point she put one foot on a bridge, mistakenly inferring to a passing stranger, Rosy Lyons, that she may be contemplating suicide. Lisa denied this, but badly in need of some comfort, allowed Rosy to humour her by buying her a coffee at a local café, Doyle's, run by proprietor Liz Doyle. In conversation, Lisa and Rosy realised they both frequented Doyle's regularly and both knew Liz. They parted on good terms, but the main benefit of their exvhange was that it helped Lisa's grief begin to heal. As such, her somewhat fractured relationship with Glen also began to heal, having previously shut him out in the aftermath of Sophie's death. But she feared their marriage may be in trouble again when she had a pregnancy scare which left her terrified, and revealing to Glen that the trauma of Sophie's death means she may not be able to face having children again for a long time, and she worried how Glen would take this, offering him an exit from their marriage. However, Glen insisted he could live with it, and together they agreed to consider adoption. The couple deliberately adopted teenagers, having been made aware that this age group is the least likely to be adopted. They first adopted Danielle, and after that proved a success, Liam came to live with them a year later. Everything in the Wright family now appears to be going well, except for the presence of local barmaid Anita Johnson, a bitchy and waspish figure in the community. In narrative form, Lisa describes Anita as a 'problem', though no context is given at this stage. The cliffhanger/tag of this episode is Anita breaking the fourth wall by 'flashing her trademark smirk' to camera. Regular Cast *'Anita Johnson' (Michelle Monaghan) *'Danielle Harvey' (Jodie Bagnell) *'Glen Wright' (Samuel Anderson) *'Liam Hardacre' (Shaun Blackstock) *'Lisa Wright' (Anna Acton) *'Liz Doyle' (Lysette Anthony) *'Rosy Lyons' (Emma Rigby) Guest Cast *'Sophie Wright' (uncredited) - shown deceased in flashback due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Current Cast (as of Episode 1) Locations (in order of appearance) *'The Wrights house', interior - living room, kitchen and Sophie's bedroom (later Danielle's bedroom) *'Leicester St. Mary's Hospital', interior - maternity ward room *Unkown street, unknown bridge opposite Doyle's café; exterior *'Doyle's' café, interior - main area Continuity Notes *Very first episode *First episode to use flashback *First episode to break the fourth wall (Lisa Wright talking to camera) *First episode licensed under 'Noxy Productions' (later Impossible Princess Productions) *This episode won a Writers Express Award for 'Best Soap Scene' at WRIXAS 10 on 30th August 2015 (Lisa Finds Baby Sophie Dead In Her Cot). *First appearance of (in alphabetical order): Anita Johnson (Michelle Monaghan), Danielle Harvey (Jodie Bagnell), Glen Wright (Samuel Anderson), Liam Hardacre (Shaun Blackstock), Lisa Wright (Anna Acton), Liz Doyle (Lysette Anthony), Rosy Lyons (Emma Rigby) and Sophie Wright (uncredited) *Final and only apperance of Sophie Wright (shown deceased due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - AKA SIDS/cot death), in flashback *Only episode where Anita, Danielle''' 'and Liam appear conscious, but have no dialogue *Only episode to use a voiceover (Lisa) as part of the narrative *Only episode where Lisa appears with blonde hair *Lisa is described as 32-years-old, and describes herself five years earlier as a peroxide blonde. She describes her husband Glen Wright as a lawyer. She explains that she met Glen five years ago, and he proposed to her a year later, despite being 'Mr Cautious' *First appearance of the hospital set ''Leicester St. Mary's; ''first appearance of its materinity unit *Sophie's full name is revealed to be Sophie Jane Wright at birth *Lisa describes Sophie as being born 'three years ago' *First mention of Lisa's salon, ''Fabulous!, which at the time she ran with friend Jason Warren *In a scene with Glen, Lisa jokes that she's so tired from doing three dye jobs that day 'she's ready to die!' Some interpret this dialogue as tragic foreshadowing of Sophie's death later that episode *Glen tells Lisa that Sophie has been asleep for 'a record' two hours. This worries Lisa, but he reassures her. She insists on checking on Sophie in half-an-hour *Lisa claims she is 'good at quiz shows' *Lisa finds Sophie dead in her cot *The timespan from Sophie's death to her funeral is described by Lisa as two weeks, during which she and Glen barely spoke *Glen uses the word 'chuffing' in the line: "I was more interested in that... stupid, chuffin' court case that I lost anyway." The word 'chuffing' - a mild expletive like 'blooming' or 'flaming' - tends to be most commonly heard in the East Midlands. Its use in this episode is a reference to the show's location, Leicester *Lisa reveals that she and Glen were offered counselling over Sophie's death and didn't take it, but in retrospect she feels they should have *First apperance of the car jointly owned by then housemates Keeley Thompson, Lindsay Adams and Rosy Lyons *First time Lisa and Rosy meet (in flashback, three years before the present day). Rosy mistakenly assumes Lisa is suicidal at first. Rosy takes her for a coffee. This later marks the first appearance of Doyle's café *In flashback, Lisa has a pregnancy scare and tells Glen she may not be ready to bear more children for a long time. She offers him the chance to end their marriage if he doesn't feel able to cope with her decision. But after further discussion, they agree to look into fostering and adoption as a way of still having a family. *Two years before the present day, Glen and Lisa foster and later adopt 'sweet, polite and very shy' teenager Danielle Harvey *One year before the present day, Glen and Lisa foster and later adopt 'outgoing and friendly' teenager Liam Hardacre, who is a year older than Danielle *In the closing moments, Lisa retrospectively describes nemesis Anita Johnson as 'a brand new problem' that 'won't be immediately obvious to you (the reader), but it will in time'. There is no explicit definition of when in the timeline Lisa is talking, as there is no context as to why she is delivering her soliloquay in Episode 1. Whenever it is, it precedes Lisa's suspicions about Anita and Glen's feelings for each other *Although this episode was first published on Writers Express on 1st February 2015, it was actually written on 11th June 2014 as an 'experiment', to see if Noxy wanted to relaunch the project...! September 2015 Episodes • Tue 1st • Wed 2nd • Thu 3rd • Tue 8th • Wed 9th • Thu 10th • Tue 15th • Wed 16th • Thu 17th • Tue 22nd • Wed 23rd • Thu 24th • Tue 29th • Wed 30th